On the 18th of September 2025, President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social where he declared at ANTIFA a “major” terrorist organisation.
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Trump has railed against ANTIFA multiple times in the past:
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He was even considering calling ANTIFA an “organisation of terror” all the way back in 2019:
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But Trump never followed through with that.
But before we get into the ins-and-outs of what Trump’s declaration actually means, what is ANTIFA and what do they stand for?
What Is ANTIFA?
Well that’s the question, isn’t it?
Technically there is no ANTIFA.
It’s not a defined group with a structure, it’s more of a loose collection of people who share similar ideology.
Some of them prefer peaceful protests, other prefer more direct (even violent) action.
ANTIFA, short for Anti-Fascist, are a decentralised group of people who oppose racism, fascism, white supremacy and anything generally associated with the far-right.
According to the author Mark Bray, in his 2017 book “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook” (Amazon Affiliate Link), ANTIFA can be traced back to the 1920s, even before the rise of Mussolini and Hitler. After the war the movement took a back seat as post-war co-operation took over.
After 9/11 in 2001 and the rise of Anti-Muslim hate, and then the financial crash of 2008, far-right sentiment and movements started to rise in prominence and with this, the ANTIFA movement rose again after Trump’s election in 2017 which is why he was calling for them to be designated a terrorist organisation in 2019.
But it’s perhaps not until the widespread BLM protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd that ANTIFA was being mentioned in the Main Stream Media who started to talk about them as an organised group.
How Is ANTIFA Structured?
Unlike far-right organisations like the Proud Boys or far-right ideologies like MAGA there isn’t a single figurehead, defined leadership or even an understandable hierarchy.
Instead it’s individual groups that organise grass roots campaigns based on their needs and beliefs and these groups don’t really liaise with one another – there’s no way they can due to the decentralised and informal structure.
Is ANTIFA A Terrorist Organisation?
No.
For a start, it’s not technically an organisation, it’s an ideology that different groups of people follow.
Definition on Cambridge Dictionary
While some of the groups that align under that ANTIFA banner will take more extreme and violent actions to further their anti-fascist goals, the majority of people and groups organise peaceful counter-protests, petitions, bring the community together with outreach programs and spread awareness of social causes in non-violent ways.
One could have originally argued that non-violent ANTIFA actions were protected under the US Constitution’s First Amendment – the right to assemble, protest and engage in free speech etc. – but as we’ve seen over just the past few days with Jimmy Kimmel being removed from the air after Kimmel’s statements about Charlie Kirk that could be argued as being “protected speech”, which followed Stephen Colbert’s late night show being cancelled, again after making “protected” speech, it seems that the right of free speech isn’t that protected any more.
But engaging in free speech isn’t a terroristic action anyway unless you’re attempting to incite violence and there’s no proof of “ANTIFA” as a group doing this. Individuals? Yes. But “ANTIFA”? That’s not really possible given their structure.
Additionally, statistics show that left-wing organisations (which would include ANTIFA) are less likely to commit violent acts than right-aligned groups:
Much of this research suggests that compared to left-wing extremists, right-wing extremists may be more likely to engage in politically motivated violence. In comparison to left-wing supporters, right-wing individuals are more often characterized by closed-mindedness and dogmatism and a heightened need for order, structure, and cognitive closure.
Because such characteristics have been found to increase in-group bias and lead to greater out-group hostility, violence for a cause may be more likely among proponents of right-wing ideologies. In contrast, in comparison to their right-wing counterparts, left-wing individuals score higher on openness to new experiences, cognitive complexity, and tolerance of uncertainty. They are also less likely to support social dominance, which could lead to their overall lower likelihood to use violence against adversaries.
Some sources put right-wing violence as being responsible to 75-80% of all fatalities due to acts of domestic terrorism since 2001, so it would appear if you trust statistics then ANTIFA aren’t the problem.
But we all know how Trump feels about numbers, right?
To label anyone who follows anti-fascist ideology as ANTIFA and therefore part of a terrorist organisation makes no sense – that would be the same as labelling everyone within the MAGA movement as a member of The Proud Boys, it just isn’t factually accurate.
Will Trump Designating ANTIFA Terrorists Do Anything?
This is a bit of a complicated question and the answer is both yes and no.
After 9/11, the USA enacted The Patriot Act which allows US citizens to be charged with domestic terrorism. What is doesn’t allow for is for the President to unilaterally to define an entire domestic movement as terroristic.
There is another law: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). This allows the Secretary of State to investigate organisations so they can be classed as terrorist.
The Secretary of State is required by law to consult with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury before making a designation. This ensures a coordinated approach across different government agencies and as they’re all Trump loyalists, this wouldn’t be an issue.
But… this only applies to Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs) and as ANTIFA is primarily USA based – or at least the parts Trump wants to go after are in the US so AEDPA doesn’t apply.
Trump has floated using RICO laws (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) to go after ANTIFA. Essentially RICO makes it a crime to be associated with any entity that engages in racketeering activity.
Racketeering encompasses around 30 federal and state crimes including bribery, extortion, money laundering and more violent crimes.
Again, given the decentralised nature of ANTIFA, it’s unclear how RICO laws would apply to a small grass-roots organisation that organises soup kitchens for the unhoused or be able to find a group of people that don’t meet and don’t have a centralised financial hub.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s “tough guy” stance will have any impact on the organisation, or if it’s just more deflection from the Epstein List controversy, a stagnating economy, rising unemployment figures and increasing questions about Trump’s health.
Katy is the editor-in-chief of FlippingHeck.com a blog about Self-Improvement, Productivity and Small Business Tips. When she’s not working, she enjoys gaming, making music and Reviewing Things.
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